I’m trying to lose a few pounds. Well, actually more than a few. Problem is, with my profession, I tend to eat out a lot. It’s hard, especially when I like such a variety of foods . . . and chocolate. It becomes a daily struggle of what, and how much to eat. If I choose poorly I’ll never achieve my weight loss goal.

One critical thing that helped is developing a plan; taking time to write out what foods I’ll eat, when I’ll eat, and how much I’ll eat. I included times when I could fudge a bit, listed out what foods I really liked that were good to use as snacks, and stocked up on them. Then I decided I’d weigh myself every day to track my progress.

I made the ‘big’ decisions to achieve my weight loss goal at the same time as I made the goal. It was during the time I was most inspired and motivated to accomplish it. I was far removed from temptation and I was able to think clearly and plan thoroughly.

I also made a plan as to what I would do when the inevitable daily temptation came to entice me to stray. I knew from past experience that I’d have to daily confront my desire to cheat. Instead of relying on will power alone, I decided to use the inevitable temptation as an immediate trigger to start a pre-planned positive response that would overwhelm the temptation.

Now, Instead of fighting off the urge to eat that piece of chocolate that had mysteriously appeared in my path, I’ll reach for the fresh carrot sticks I keep near to feed those between meal munchies. I haven’t had to give up chocolate. Instead, I overwhelmed the temptation with a pre-determined positive action that leads toward the achievement of my goal. It takes about 2 seconds, but makes a huge difference in my results.

The same can be done to keep you on track toward any goal or destination.

You probably already know where you want to end up. The problem is the dinky daily discipline you need to enforce upon yourself in order to get there. If you don’t have a plan to counter the inevitable daily temptation to falter, then you have to make those ‘big’ decisions all over again, sometimes several times a day when you’re at your weakest. Your will power, no matter how strong, will almost certainly give way under that constant assault.

The best way to stay on an upward path is to have an easy, positive response prepared for those crucial tempting times. This dinky daily discipline will indeed determine your eventual destination.